As far as I know no Pi runs any Windows as people know and love on their PC's.

I don't like to comment on economics much but it recent years I hear a lot of talk about how inequitable the world is. 1% of the people own 99% of the stuff. Or whatever the ratio is.

When I hear statements like "if it only ran Windows" I realize of course that inequality is inevitable. The poor people actively like to throw their money at the rich people. They go out of their way to do it.

The Pi is supposed to run Windows - I'm not sure if it does right now but Microsoft have promised it. My understanding is that it won't be the graphical desktop that most people think of when Windows is mentioned - it will just run Windows executables, presumably controlled by a terminal-like interface. So more DOS than Windows as far as most people are concerned.

Somebody said Windows, that means money going out after the initial purchase. I'm still trying to figure out what I need one for. Is it the novelty of being able to run an OS on something that small, or some underlying real world use. I can do most of that on my phone, and I don't. It would see the drawer within a week.

Not to worry, gadgets, technology and modern life run by so fast nobody can catch all of it.

I'm still trying to figure out what I need one for. Is it the novelty of being able to run an OS on something that small, or some underlying real world use.

If you have to ask then perhaps you don't need a Raspberry Pi or whatever like board. I mean, I don't understand why I need a vacuum cleaner in the house, but always there is one there to annoy me.

The Pi was conceived as a cheap toy that kids could play with and learn to program. Like they did back in the early 1980's with their Commodore C64 and such. It was to repair the fact that the Windows/iPhone generation coming to study Computer Science at University arrived with no experience and no idea how to program. Unlike the C64 generation.

After that it went crazy and 12 million Pi are out there being used for all kind of things.

I used 'supposed' in the same sense that one would say, "We're all supposed to own flying cars by now."

I remember reading on the official Pi website, maybe a year ago or more, that Microsoft had promised to make a free version of Windows available for the Pi, but once I read a little more about it, I decided it was not for me.

I own about ten Pi models - I have at least one of all the main models. I run Raspbian on all but one (a media server). I recently replaced one of my NAS servers with a Pi3. It works great and uses only about five watts - its predecessor was a low power fanless Intel Atom PC but still used about thirty watts so the Pi is saving me money! It runs 24/7.

The Pi is supposed to run Windows - I'm not sure if it does right now but Microsoft have promised it. My understanding is that it won't be the graphical desktop that most people think of when Windows is mentioned - it will just run Windows executables, presumably controlled by a terminal-like interface. So more DOS than Windows as far as most people are concerned.

There are x86 emulation engines that do allow you to boot Windows, however someone has also made an 8-bit AVR boot linux, by emulating ARM ...
- ie 'can be done' is not the same as 'would you use it?'

Ha! Actually I'm thinking that supply of the new Pi Zero will be more voluminous. My reasoning goes like this:

They have added WIFI and Bluetooth which is perhaps a dollars worth of parts. They have doubled the price. That means there will be hugely higher returns on each sale. And that makes it economically reasonable to churn out as many as needed to satisfy demand.

Just my idle speculation though.

At least for the published price without overpriced extras.

Plenty of people are getting hold of Zero's without buying any superfluous junk.

Wow, that's great news - I must buy a bunch of them. Currently I'm doing that with the Pi 3, because of the wifi. Need something done? Just plug it in somewhere and connect it to whatever (printer, or minicomp console), and access it over wifi. With that $10 version I can do it even cheaper and smaller (except if I need to plug in some full-size USB directly)
(Unlike just about every other small cheap pi-like-but-not-pi board, the Pi works out of the box, no effort to get it running)

Ha! Actually I'm thinking that supply of the new Pi Zero will be more voluminous. My reasoning goes like this:

They have added WIFI and Bluetooth which is perhaps a dollars worth of parts. They have doubled the price. That means there will be hugely higher returns on each sale. And that makes it economically reasonable to churn out as many as needed to satisfy demand.

Just my idle speculation though.

At least for the published price without overpriced extras.

Plenty of people are getting hold of Zero's without buying any superfluous junk.

I just ordered one from AdaFruit for $10. However, they only allow each customer to order one. You can't order multiple units.

Me, I don't much care where my Pi comes from. I'm pretty sure the quality control in place everywhere is quite OK.

In the 60s and 70s I, like a lot of other people got tired of seeing that little gold oval sticker (Made in Japan) on the bottom of every trinket for sale. Quality isn't that much of an issue, China makes some quality products. On the other hand, they are capable (like any country) of producing some real junk.
I wonder what the Chinese microcontroller hobbyists have in their box of tricks. Do they purchase foreign designed products from overseas supplier's. Or do they skim off the production runs before shipment. Or copy a design, and make their own product for their market.